Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
A type of case for carrying blueprints or other large documents is presented, and particularly adapted to the difficult problem of transporting, displaying, protecting from the elements, altering or modifying large-sized blueprint drawings in outdoor or indoor working environments.
While there have been many briefcase and clipboard style devices conceived for special purposes, the difficult problem of containing and displaying, protecting and offering a means of easily altering or modifying blueprint drawings in a working environment has not been effectively addressed. Blueprints, which can be as large as 2 or 3 feet wide and 3 feet long, can be unwieldy documents, and the customary way of carrying them is to roll a package of drawings up into a tube-shape length secured by a strap or rubber bands. This makes handling the documents very difficult in the hostile outdoor or indoor environment, perhaps in windy conditions, as a flat surface must be found to roll out the documents. The blueprints must be restrained from their tendency to roll back up again either by being held down manually or by being weighted at the corners. These difficulties are compounded when the blueprints must be carried from one portion of the working site to another and used by various personnel on a construction project, especially in inclement weather conditions.
As the number of blueprints on a large construction project is also large, carrying the blueprints together in a large package prevents difficulties of keeping them organized as well as the difficulties of displaying in a flat fashion and protecting them from the environment. The bundles of documents tend to become separated and inconvenient to collect, collate and carry away at the end of a working day on a construction site. Further when modifications, alterations or amendments are called for on a particular job, making said changes to any respective blueprints tends to be a cumbersome task.
The within invention seeks to address these problems by providing a specifically blueprint documents from their tendency to curl or flutter in hostile weather conditions, protect the documents from inclement weather conditions, provide a means of conveniently transporting large numbers of documents in an organized fashion, and giving the user the ability to effectuate fast and temporary changes to any respective document or blueprint with ease and confidence. The construction of the device described herein has become possible with the development and commercialization of modem materials and manufacturing methods that would not have been possible in earlier times. Thus it is an objective of the within invention to provide a means of carrying large and small blueprint documents conveniently.
A further objective of the invention is to accommodate either small numbers or large thicknesses of documents in a carrier that will accommodate these variations.
Yet another objective of the within invention is to provide a carrier that can also serve as a display surface for maintaining the blueprints in a flat configuration on the work site.
A further objective of this invention is to securely retain the blueprint documents yet enable use of multiple documents without losing or removing other documents in the stack.
A further objective of the within invention is to provide a display surface that has sufficient rigidity to be posted on a vertical or horizontal surface for a convenient working display at a construction site.
A further objective of the within invention is to provide two additional storage containers to securely maintain wax pencils, other writing utensils, erasers, cloths, etc.
A final objective of the within invention is to provide a clear removable plastic or polyethylene cover for both the protection of any documents or blueprints and to allow the user to make any temporary modifications, alterations or amendments to the documents by means of a wax pencil written directly upon the cover. Said cover being removable and said unit providing an attached storage area for the cover on its back when the cover is not in use. These and other objectives are achieved by the specifically configured Blueprint Caddy described herein.
The Blueprint Caddy is a large rigid plastic display box sized to completely contain and display a typically dimensioned twenty-four or thirty-six inch blueprint document in addition to any border surrounding the document. Two detachable pin hinges on the box hold in place a removable plastic cover rounded on its left side to allow individual pages of any document placed therein to be folded over and stored within the box itself. The clear plastic cover provides both protection from the elements as well as allowing the user to make any temporary modifications to the document by writing directly on the plastic cover with a wax pencil. The cover is removable and the box is constructed with a convenient storage area on its back to store the cover when not in use. Documents placed within the Caddy are held securely in place by means of two sturdy plastic lock down elongated clamps which fit into channeled grooves of the Caddy to support either twenty-four or thirty-six inch documents. Additionally, the Caddy is constructed with two small contained storage spaces for securely storing wax pencils, other writing utensils, erasers, cloths, etc. Further, the Caddy has both a handle and four one inch removable legs which allow for easy transport and viewing, either horizontally or vertically, of any prospective document.